Sexual Assault and Dating Violence

Wellness 360: UTSA provides counseling, survivor advocacy and recovery resources through individual and group counseling sessions, survivor advocacy services and support for trauma recovery.

PEACE Center: This on-campus resource focuses on Prevention, Education, Advocacy, Consultation and Empowerment, offering trauma-informed support and sexual violence screening for survivors. Services, which are confidential, focus on sexual violence, intimate partner violence, gender-based violence, sexual misconduct and harassment, and stalking.

Their Sexual Violence Prevention Screener is an online program that teaches students about healthy/unhealthy relationships, consent, different forms of sexual violence, strategies for interrupting sexual violence, and tools for survivors of sexual violence.

Green Dot Bystander Intervention: An initiative aimed at preventing sexual violence, stalking and other forms of personal violence through proactive student engagement and workshops.

Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN): RAINN is the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence organization and partners with sexual assault service providers across the country. They implement programs to prevent sexual violence, help survivors and ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice.

National Sexual Assault Hotline (800-656-4673): RAINN created and operated the hotline to provide confidential support to victims 24/7 by phone and online.

National Domestic Violence Hotline: Provides essential tools and support to help survivors of domestic violence live their lives free of abuse. They have expert advocates who offer free, confidential, and compassionate support, crisis intervention information, education and referral services in over 200 languages. They are available 24/7 through phone (800-799-7233), chat or text (text “START” to 88788)

San Antonio Rape Crisis Center (210-349-7273): Offers 24-hour crisis intervention, free confidential counseling and case management.

What Is Sexual Assault?

The term sexual assault refers to sexual contact or behavior that occurs without explicit consent of the victim. Sexual assault in Texas is defined as:

• Non-consensual, unwanted sexual contact against another person involving penetration of sexual organs; includes being compelled to submit or participate by the use of physical force, violence or coercion
• Being compelled to submit or participate by threatening violence on them or another person, being unconscious, unaware or physically unable to resist
• Penetration of the mouth of another person by the sexual organ of the actor without that person’s consent

 Visit the RAINN website for a full definition of sexual assault and penalties in Texas.

What Is Dating Violence?
Dating violence typically refers to any type of verbal, emotional, physical, or sexual abuse that occurs between two people identified as being in a dating relationship; domestic violence is the same abuse occurring between two cohabitating people, irrespective of a dating dynamic; and more broadly, intimate partner/relationship violence is any abuse occurring between two people who are intimately involved. This type of violence is often the result of an abuser's desire to control his or her partner's thoughts and actions; it's about power, not passion. The abuser often uses a variety of abusive methods to gain that control, including emotional, verbal, physical and sexual abuse.

For teens and those new to dating and relationships, it’s can be difficult to identify controlling behaviors from caring behaviors. Consider this list of warning signs to identify unhealthy or abusive behaviors.

It’s not OK for a partner to:

• Demand details about how you spend your time
• Restrict contact with family or friends
• Criticize you or what’s important to you
• Control what you wear or what you look like.
• Touch you in public without permission
• Coerce or pressure you into physical activity
• Ignore or violate your physical boundaries
• Control your reproductive choices

Navigating the complexities of dating in the digital age requires vigilance and caution. Here are some essential safety tips from RAINN. Visit their website for an expanded list of safety tips.

• Use different photos for your dating profile
• Be wary of suspicious profiles
• Check out your potential date on social media
• Block and report suspicious users
• Wait to share personal information
• Do not respond to requests for financial help
• Video chat before you meet up in person
• Tell a trusted friend or family member about your date's details and consider tracking your whereabouts
• Meet in a public place
• Make sure you have independent transportation; don’t rely on your date for transportation
• Trust your instincts

Consent is an agreement between participants to engage in sexual activity. Consent is the cornerstone of healthy relationships, requiring explicit, sober and conscious agreement from all parties involved. UTSA and the State of Texas legal definitions stress the inability to consent when under the age of 17 or incapacitated by drugs or alcohol.

When you’re engaging in sexual activity, consent is about communication. And it should happen every time for every type of activity. Consenting to one activity, one time, does not mean someone gives consent for other activities or for the same activity on other occasions.

You can withdraw consent at any point if you feel uncomfortable. One way to do this is to clearly communicate to your partner that you are no longer comfortable with this activity and wish to stop.

Visit RAINN to learn more about what consent looks like.

What is Stalking?
Stalking is a pattern of repeated and unwanted attention, harassment, contact or any other course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear, according to the Department of Justice. Similar to crimes of sexual violence, stalking is about power and control. In the digital world, stalking can happen through online harassment or unauthorized tracking. Victims are advised to document incidents, assert boundaries and seek legal protection if necessary.

According to RAINN, stalking behavior can take many forms including:

• Making threats against someone, or that person's family or friends
• Non-consensual communication, such as repeated phone calls, emails, text messages and unwanted gifts
• Repeated physical or visual closeness, like waiting for someone to arrive at certain locations, following someone or watching someone from a distance
• Any other behavior used to contact, harass, track or threaten someone

Learn more about stalking on RAINN’s website.